Making her debut as an illustrator, Beech, an established children’s book designer and art director in London, offers a rendition that feels like a modern classic. Using acrylic ink, colored pencil and murky watercolor washes, her images are simultaneously detailed and impressionistic, conjuring a lovely, hazy Christmas dream. Fans of cross-section cutaways will swoon at the dollhouse-like views of the family’s home, with its tiled floors, neatly stacked dishes and toy collection. The arrival of St. Nick and his reindeer (“Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer!”) is captured in a climactic gatefold that will prompt extra-happy gazing.

Catherine Hong - The New York Times